Cured-in-place pipe saves historic house

Problem

A leaking cast-iron roof drain on historic Cannon House in Washington, D.C., caused water damage to office ceilings and walls. Removing the copper roof, plaster, and brick to replace it would disrupt Congressional business. The Architect of the Capital, stewards of the nation’s landmark buildings, needed an alternate rehabilitation method.

 

Solution

The Architect of the Capital selected Enviro-Flow Service Co., in Zanesville, Ohio, to televise and repair the drains using cured-in-place pipe from Flow-Liner Systems. Technicians using a RIDGID SeeSnake camera found leaking fittings in the drains running above the ceilings and down through a brick wall.

They impregnated the liner with environmentally friendly, nonshrink epoxy resin, loaded it into the Flow-40 inverter, transported it to the roof, and inverted the liner down the drain. The crew then shot in the calibration tube, inflated it to force the liner against the walls of the host pipe, and maintained the pressure until the resin hardened. They reinstated the end of the liner with a Dancutter tool.

 

Result

Technicians repaired the drain in one day without damaging the historical character of the 102-year-old building. 800/348-0020; www.flow-liner.com.

 

Cleaning on schedule

Problem

The Saratoga County (N.Y.) Sewer District wanted a cost-effective, time-saving way to clean its 333 miles of sewers and 100 pump stations every two years.

 

Solution

Using a Camel 200 Series sewer and catch basin cleaner from Super Products, technicians clean six wells before the 16-cubic-yard debris tank needs unloading. The machine’s dewatering and compaction system removes excess liquid through a drain on the debris tank.

The machine has three modes of conveying material: air conveyance, pure vacuum and fluidizing tube. The single-engine drive allows vacuum, water and hydraulic pump to operate while transmission is in neutral. The design also results in lower sound levels, reduced maintenance requirements, and less fuel consumption.

 

Result

The district is maintaining its cleaning schedule. 800/837-9711; www.superproductscorp.com.

 

Manhole-to-manhole lining process

Problem

In the 2009-10 winter, downpours increased flows at the New Braunfels (Texas) Wastewater Treatment Plant from 6 to 10 mgd – the design capacity – and four of 23 lift stations ran continuously for 36 hours afterward. An inspection by Pipeline Analysis, an engineering firm in Dallas, revealed structural issues and roots in the clay and reinforced concrete sewers. Trino Pedraza, operations and maintenance division manager, looked for an affordable answer to the city’s inflow and infiltration problems.

 

Solution

The utility purchased a 20-foot climate-controlled trailer, lateral inversion system, and Top Gun system with Viper compact steam unit from Perma-Liner Industries. Two crews totaling seven workers learned the process by lining 3,240 feet of 6- and 8-inch sewer mains running through a wooded canyon with no asphalt roads. The average run was 200 feet between manholes.

The workers wetted out liners in the trailer, installed the inversion unit over the manhole, and hand-fed the liner into the top of the gun to begin the inversion process. After clamping the liner to the gun’s bottom lip, they blew in air at 12 to 16 psi and the liner shot down the pipe at 12 inches every 1.7 seconds.

Curing required one worker controlling the steam unit and another with a walkie-talkie at the far manhole to relay temperatures. Once both ends of the liner reached 200 degrees F, they shut off the steam and applied air at 5 psi until the liner cooled. Heating the liner took 30 to 40 minutes on average, and cooling it took 15 to 20 minutes.

 

Result

“The equipment paid for itself on the first job, so everything else is a return on our investment,” says Pedraza. 866/336-2568; www.perma-liner.com. C